Is it common for autistic people to have learning disability?

Shorty
#1. February 3rd, 2010, at 1:50 PM.

yes i have a friend that is slightly autistic and she needs just a little extra help in school
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MadGunner
#2. February 3rd, 2010, at 1:56 PM.

They can have a learning disablity, but in some areas they can also be geniuses.
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SoulDawg 4 UGA
#3. February 3rd, 2010, at 2:05 PM.

My son has autism. He is 7, and still not speaking yet. Since he is not yet verbal learning is indeed more of a challenge for him. His teachers use unconventional techniques to teach him. He does understand most verbal commands and I believe he knows a lot more than people would think, but we won’t have a good grasp until he starts speaking.
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christopher
#4. February 3rd, 2010, at 2:18 PM.

yea.. a lot of people that have autismn do
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brenda
#5. February 3rd, 2010, at 2:31 PM.

I have an autistic friend (15 years old now)
and he studies in the normal school with me, we are classmates
his ability to learn in class is well
he does the homework well, his math is good, but he gets difficult when he makes something crafty
I think autistic people have difficulty to learn about new things, but they seem brave, and have strong will
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Roni;
#6. February 3rd, 2010, at 2:59 PM.

my grandma is a special education teacher an specializes in autism. Autism is a learning disability in itself so if a person has autism they will need extra tutoring and or special education classes.
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TERRY C
#7. February 3rd, 2010, at 3:40 PM.

Autism has clear links to learning capabilities. lack of concentration being the main problem.
I wouldn’t class it as a disability though, more like a problem that can be overcome.
work on your listening and attention span, make serious efforts to take in facts and evaluate what has been said, or what you have read.
Never be afraid to ask again and again if you have to, until you understand.
your question and the way it is presented, show me that you have intelligence and learning speeds differ in all people, not just autistic ones
the world is your oyster and overcoming the things that stand in our way is a part of your strength.
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Nathan D
#8. February 3rd, 2010, at 4:14 PM.

My brother is 18 now. Go him! But anyways, yes they can…because he does slightly. Although they might be weak in alot of things, they will be VERY strong in others. Like, my brother he is a fricking basketball genius. If you name any team, he can tell you every player on the team, and tell you what he is good at. He can also tell you how many rings(championships) a team has won. He is also very midly smart in other sports, basically all of them. He is so awesome, love him to death. (:
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My brothhha.

Beckee
#9. February 3rd, 2010, at 4:59 PM.

Yes, but it’s impossible to know just how common.

Psychologists will tell you that many autistic students also have learning disabilities. Most commonly, you see learning disabilities in reading comprehension, written expression, and math reasoning for higher functioning autistic students. For others you may also see problems with basic reading (the ability to recognize and pronounce words) or speech and language impairment.

Autistic students might be able to read aloud a text far above their grade level, but be unable to answer comprehension questions about very simple children’s books. That would be a learning disability in reading comprehension.

They may be great at arithmetic problems. But if you give one a word problem to see how they come up with a strategy to solve it, they might just add every number mentioned in the problem and give you the sum as their answer. That might be a learning disability in math reasoning.

However, autistic individuals are very special–not at all standard. Psychologists have to make so many special accomodations and adjustments just to get through the standardized tests, that the scores they get from them are basically meaningless and definitely not standardized. In other words, autism sometimes makes it impossible to accurately test for learning disabilities. Most of the time, we don’t have much more of an idea of what the autistic student can do than we did before we gave them the test.
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PrideBoi81
#10. February 3rd, 2010, at 5:05 PM.

I’m just guessing here, but i think it is fairly common for people who have autism to also have a learning disability that goes along with it.

In fact most people with one learning disability tend to have others as well, i have ADD but also have motor dyspraxa and discalculi.
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beetlemilk
#11. February 3rd, 2010, at 5:50 PM.

I think that it is pretty common that those on the autistic spectrum have a learning disability. There is definately a link between the two.

My father is asperger’s. He is hyperlexic, gifted, and has nonverbal learning disability
He learns everything superfast

My brother is PDD.NOS. He is gifted
He learns some things super fast, others at an average pace

My son is PDD.NOS.
We suspect that he has a learning disability. His psychoeducational test scores were all over the place. He is being evaluated in 2 weeks.

We are looking into dyslexia (for reading) and dyspraxia.

Possibly he has CAPD central auditory processing disorder or a language processing disorder

I do not think that he has NVLD non verbal learning disability, or discalcula

My PDD.NOS son learns almost at pace with typical peers, to being a little behind typical peers. Some things (like reading) take longer for him, other things he just knows how to do without pre-teaching. The areas he excels at involve rote memory, and perceptive reasoning (things that aren’t taught)
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nubiangeek
#12. February 3rd, 2010, at 6:02 PM.

A learning disability is anything that prevents a person from learning. So, by definition, autism could affect one’s learning, or it could not. My son, who is now in high school, was highly affected by his autism when he was younger. Now, he has learned to cope with a lot of things and so his academics are a lot better.
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GizerBaby
#13. February 3rd, 2010, at 6:09 PM.

My brother has Autism spectrum disorder and he has problems with speech and socially and also with homework, but after you repeat with him a few time he gets it, he has a teacher that knows how to teach kids like him
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Maria
#14. February 3rd, 2010, at 6:54 PM.

It totally depends on the level of the person with the disease. Some people are better off than others. As a special ed teacher my experience is that the vast majority of people with autism do have learning disabilities. There is help though, so don’t get down.
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froggequene
#15. February 3rd, 2010, at 7:17 PM.

Children with autism can have other learning disabilities as well, varying from mild to severe learning difficulties, speech & language difficulties, behavioural & social difficulties that impact on their capacity to learn as well as other diagnoses such as ADD or ADHD. I’ve also come across children who have multiple diagnoses of Autism & Cerebral Palsy.
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Annie
#16. February 3rd, 2010, at 8:00 PM.

While there is no current research that supports a higher level of learning disabilities when there is an exsisting diagnosis of autism, it is not unusual for there to be learing issues with students on the spectrum.
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Person With Disabilities
#17. February 3rd, 2010, at 8:33 PM.

My only child was born with Autism and was also born with Mental Retardation.

I read on one person’s personal website that between 75% and 90% of all people with Autism have mental retardation! I highly disagree with the information! The reason why I am saying this is because there are people who are considered be severely affected with Autism but yet they are very intellegent and can hold extremely intellegent conversations with other people. One such person is Amanda Baggs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnylM1hI2jc
Amanda Baggs edited and produced the video.

There is a High Functioning Autism (HFA) called Asperger’s Syndrome (AS).

There is a condition called "Savant Syndrome" which is an exceptional skill in an area. It is called a "Splinter Skill".
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